Small Fashion Brands Need the “Spillover Effect”… Here’s Why!

Social media gives power to the individual. This new power has led to the rapid outpour of new, privately owned, fashion labels who have used social media to flourish and extend their reach. But one issue they still may face is competing with the titans of the fashion industry who dominate our insta feeds. So with this in mind it is interesting to delve into how these small fashion brands can more effectively get our attention on social media.

The “Spillover” effect

A recent study looked specifically at how content creators or social media influencers can be, and are, most effectively used by smaller private brands who may not have a designated marketing department and hundreds and thousands of pounds to spend on Ad campaigns. Across a year they collected fashion content creators posts on a website called Lookbook.nu (Hsiao, Wang, Wang & Kao, 2019).

One of their findings showed that as expected, creators with more followers had more popular/more liked posts. But their second finding was more insightful. Hsiao and colleagues showed that images which incorporated tagged clothing items from well-known brands as well as smaller private labels led to increased post popularity and awareness of the smaller brand.

So smaller fashion brands do better if they allow influencers to post content which mixes items from well known brands as well as their own. A suggested reason for this effect could be that, from the consumer’s perspective, seeing a popular brand name they know and trust alongside a new name being posted by an influencer they already like and follow, may mean they link the two brands as having similar quality/style. Therefore, they may be more likely to purchase products from the new brand they have been introduced to. This effect has been labelled the “spillover effect” where brand quality perceptions “spillover” to lesser known, smaller brands (Janakiraman, Sismeiro, & Dutta,2009).

Visual Communication

Research has found that, in the realm of luxury brands, the complexity of the image used can affect people’s perceptions of its quality/ luxury. When individuals are familiar with the brand then they perceive greater luxury from a more minimal and simplistic image (Lee, Hur and Watkins, 2018). So the fewer other objects present in the image places higher emphasis and perception of opulence on the brands product.

On the other hand, when the brand is not known to the viewer, more visual complexity in the image causes higher perceptions of luxury than a simple image (Lee, Hur and Watkins, 2018). So ultimately this suggests that for a new brand to get your attention it should focus its efforts on composing and posting interesting and engaging complex imagery in order to get our attention and lead us to want to purchase from them.

This could be done by new brands targeting influencers who tend to take more visually complex images, or by the brand itself posting in that way. The opposite should be used by well known brands.

Whether this be subconscious or conscious, brands already use these tactics to get our attention. All you need to do is look at the instagram pages or established brands such as Chanel and Zara who use Minimalistic imagery and compare it to new upcoming brands such as Rixo and NeverfullyDressed.

Now that you are aware of some of the ways fashion brands get our attention maybe you will be able to notice their effects on you. If they do manage to get your attention, make sure you’re getting the best deal possible!

Yass Rad is a Experimental Psychology student who was born and raised in London. She loves to combine her lifelong interest in fashion with her Psychology background by exploring how the two areas interlink.